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Santorum says big night earned $250K, sets aim on Romney

WASHINGTON (AP) — Resurgent Rick Santorum said his sweep of
three GOP contests earned his shoestring campaign $250,000
overnight, cash he needs to take his upstart bid for the Republican
presidential nomination to Mitt Romney's turf.

Santorum's stunning victories Tuesday in Minnesota, Missouri and
Colorado marked his best performance thus far in the rollicking
contest for the Republican presidential nomination - and Romney's
worst. The better-funded and organized former Massachusetts
governor shrugged off his poor showing, but his losses were
stinging reminders of a stubborn weakness: Romney's inability to
appeal to the conservatives at the base of the party.

It was far from clear, though, that Santorum would be able to
turn his momentum into the millions of dollars he would need to
overtake Romney. But in the hours after his victory, Santorum said
he's finally being heard and supported by conservatives who want a
clear contrast to President Barack Obama.

"I think last night we raised a quarter of a million dollars
online," Santorum told CNN's "Starting Point" the morning after.
"We are going to have the money we need to make the case we want
to make."

That overnight haul was part of a larger two-day take of
$400,000, Santorum told reporters Wednesday following an event near
Dallas with pastors.

And to take the fight to Romney's virtual home states. On
MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Santorum said he'd debate Romney in
Arizona, home of a sizable Mormon population and a key patron, Sen.
John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee.

"Good. We welcome him," McCain said in Washington. Of Romney,
he said: "I'm still confident he'll win the nomination. He'll be
fine."

Also on Santorum's travel schedule: Michigan, where Romney's
father was governor.

The developments shifted the Republican political narrative just
as Romney had aggressively courted conservatives and they had begun
to embrace him in the first step toward what many Republicans hoped
would be a swift end to the nomination fight.

Instead, Santorum thrived and relegated House Speaker Newt
Gingrich, another contender for the conservative vote, to the rear
of the results Tuesday with Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Gingrich mostly
skipped the three-state race, focusing instead on Ohio and its vote
on Super Tuesday, March 6.

A subdued Romney congratulated Santorum and said he'd press on.

"This was a good night for Rick Santorum," Romney told
supporters in Denver on Tuesday. He offered a bit of forced
optimism: "We'll keep on campaigning down the road, but I expect
to become our nominee with your help."

Romney added, "When this primary season is over, we're going to
stand united as a party behind our nominee to defeat Barack
Obama."

In Washington, Republican senators tried to change the subject
back to the controversy over the Obama administration's directive
requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control for
their employees regardless of the institutions' religious beliefs.
The senators, some of whom have endorsed Romney, only acknowledged
the Republican nomination fight when asked. And then, not in
particularly revealing terms.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, who is in charge of Romney's campaign
for congressional and other endorsements, noted that Romney didn't
spend much, if any, money or time on that state's contest, while
Santorum did. What should Romney do going forward? "I think it's a
serious process and they should take it all seriously," Blunt
said.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, where Romney trounced his
competitors Jan. 31, congratulated Santorum but deflected questions
about the results and their meaning. "I just have not had a lot of
time to do political analysis," he said.

Santorum cast the results as a victory for a purer form of
conservatism than Romney has offered, heard more clearly by voters
across the nation's midsection without a deafening TV air war that
Romney has dominated.

The former Pennsylvania senator said in a nationally broadcast
interview Wednesday that he thinks conservative Republicans "are
beginning to get" that he represents the party's best chance to
oust Obama.

He also ripped into Romney's compromises on health care,
economic bailouts and cap and trade and mocking Romney's attempt to
be seen as the political outsider in 2012.

"Gov. Romney, Mr. Outsider, was for government takeover in
health care, was for government takeover of the private sector of
the Wall street bailout and was for the government takeover of
industry and energy with the cap and trade," Santorum said on CNN.
"So Mr. Private Sector was Mr. Big Government when he was out
there running for the private sector."

In the glow of victory, he looked past Romney to the general
election. As the Republicans fight, Obama watches from his perch in
the White House - and waits.

"I don't stand here to be the conservative alternative to Mitt
Romney, I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack
Obama," Santorum said Tuesday night.

Romney wasn't the only loser.

On the first day of multi-state voting, the trio of contests
exposed a glaring deficiency for Gingrich.

The former House speaker lacked the resources and organization
to compete just as he's trying to project strength heading into
Super Tuesday. He made only minimal efforts in the three states
that voted Tuesday and stayed out of sight as the results rolled
in. Gingrich is focusing on Ohio, where early voting for the March
6 primary has begun.

To be fair, Tuesday's contests will have little bearing on the
race for delegates. Missouri's nonbinding primary in particular was
little more than an extensive warm-up routine. The state will hold
an official caucus in March.

But even symbolic victories can produce or slow momentum.

Romney's camp began downplaying the results hours before the
voting began. Rich Beeson, his political director, released a memo
earlier in the day noting that even McCain lost 19 states on the
way to capturing the nomination in 2008.

Following Maine's low-profile caucuses, which conclude Saturday,
the candidates will have an extended 17-day lull.